Color Settings Help Needed

I need some help with regard to color management settings for my workflow.

1 - I have a Canon 5D2 which has its color space set at sRGB (I shoot in RAW Format)
I realize that the sRGB color space doesn't mean anything for the RAW format, only
JPEG - as I understand it.

2 - When I Look at the color space in Canon Digital Photo Professional, the RAW photo
shows sRGB and the DPP Convert and Save As file shows the color space as sRGB

Here is a screen shot of my DPP Color Management Setting

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR

Somewhere along the line, the image was converted from sRGB to Adobe RGB, because if it was captured as Adobe RGB the file name would begin with an underscore, as in: _IMG.

Rather than converting and saving in DPP, send (Transfer) the file directly to Photoshop and use Save As.

This will ensure that the file is tagged as sRGB and reduce the number of times you re-save a JPG.

Even though your DPP default is set for sRGB, it can be overridden in the 'Adjustment/Work color space' menu. Can we rule out that this was done?

I do some RAW conversion in DPP since I am not comfortable with ACR yet. I think that DPP suits my RAW conversion workflow at this time. So after I do some RAW Conversion in DPP should I save it as a RAW, TIFF, or JPEG.

pophoto wrote in post #11704131
I do some RAW conversion in DPP since I am not comfortable with ACR yet. I think that DPP suits my RAW conversion workflow at this time. So after I do some RAW Conversion in DPP should I save it as a RAW, TIFF, or JPEG.

After doing your raw adjustments, if you're satisfied, their's no need to convert at all. DPP writes the adjustment instructions to the raw file.

I would only convert to JPG for specific usage and as a final output file... printing, posting to the web, etc. Personally, I convert and save to a 16bit TIF file in a larger color space than sRGB. This file serves as my "master file" for later use-specific editing and conversions.

tzalman ... I do not suspect that I have overridden the color space in Adjustment/Work color space, since I was really unaware that you could do that. If I did, it was truly an accident.

Do the settings that are in my OP look okay or is there something in there that may be suspicious ?

Your settings look just fine and if you didn't use Adjustment/Work color space it must be a bug in DPP, but it's one I haven't heard of before. It really should write the jpg or tif in sRGB.

As Elie said... check under the Adjustment menu in DPP.

I don't have the OP's problem but I checked that menu myself just to see what it was set at. Oddly enough, nothing was selected, which seems really weird. I checked sRGB and it stayed selected.

How is that setting different from the default setting under Preferences? Is that a per-image adjustment?

If you check it out, you'll see that your preferences will stay where you set them, even if you change the active color space in Adjustments. What I'm not sure of is whether when you convert to a jpeg it will pick up the Active instead of the Preferences -- check it out!

You will note that when you change your working color space it will actually change the RGB histogram accordingly. This can be useful when dealing with bright/saturated colors to try to tone them down into the sRGB color space or tone them "up" a bit if you are printing to an aRGB compatible printer. It even works that way with a jpeg.

ncjohn wrote in post #11706613
How is that setting different from the default setting under Preferences? Is that a per-image adjustment?

Yeah, per image. You can open an image in the editing window and test it.

tonylong wrote in post #11706928
You will note that when you change your working color space it will actually change the RGB histogram accordingly. This can be useful when dealing with bright/saturated colors to try to tone them down into the sRGB color space or tone them "up" a bit if you are printing to an aRGB compatible printer. It even works that way with a jpeg.

I'm glad you said this, Tony, because it reminded me of something that I guess is a bug in Elements 6 & 7.

Just now, I pulled up a photo in DPP and used the Adjustment menu to change the color space; the photo changed, as I thought it should. Change it back, and the photo changes again. But in the past, when using PSE, I would change the color space of the image (just to see what the difference would be) and it didn't change appearance at all. I thought that was strange but didn't know what it meant.

So just now, having seen the image change in DPP, I went back to PSE, loaded up the same image as in DPP and tried it again. When changing from aRGB to sRGB and back, there's no change. When you tell it to remove the profile, it apparently does because the photo goes flat. Then when you try to restore the profile, nothing happens. So it's like PSE can remove a profile but can't change it or add one if there isn't one. And it acts the same whether it's a RAW or jpeg.

tonylong wrote in post #11706928
What I'm not sure of is whether when you convert to a jpeg it will pick up the Active instead of the Preferences -- check it out!

yes it does.
So... if I stay in sRGB most of the time but I want to see how a photo will print as aRGB, I can use this adjustment, whip out a tif (or whatever) and print it and it doesn't change any of my DPP settings. Right?
I assume that's the whole point.

ncjohn wrote in post #11707640
So just now, having seen the image change in DPP, I went back to PSE, loaded up the same image as in DPP and tried it again. When changing from aRGB to sRGB and back, there's no change. When you tell it to remove the profile, it apparently does because the photo goes flat. Then when you try to restore the profile, nothing happens. So it's like PSE can remove a profile but can't change it or add one if there isn't one. And it acts the same whether it's a RAW or jpeg.

John, don't forget that PSE is a pixel editor and DPP is more like LR in behavior. You can't actually edit raw files in PSE. You are editing a temporary TIF file.

ChasP505 wrote in post #11707801
John, don't forget that PSE is a pixel editor and DPP is more like LR in behavior. You can't actually edit raw files in PSE. You are editing a temporary TIF file.

Even with a tif or jpg, it seems strange that it will apparently remove an existing color profile but won't change from one to another. And of course, usually if you try to do something that PSE can't do, the menu options are grayed out; in this case they're not.